This authoritative daybook (like the biography reviewed below) is neatly timed to the December 9 release of Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia , and filmgoers will be pleased to find informative Narnia background material here. Duriez, who has filled a shelf with such books as The C.S. Lewis Encyclopedia and A Field Guide to Narnia, employs an approach not unlike recent Beatles and Monkees day-by-day books: "I go through the years of his life [1898–1963], from birth to death, selecting varied but representative days.... These give vivid insights into the events of his life, his books, his attitudes, sense of fun, wit and wisdom, beliefs and friends." Such entries illuminate Lewis's friendship with Tolkien and his meeting with the "amusingly abrasive New Yorker" who would become his wife. Other entries cover Lewis's science fiction, theological reflections, literary criticism, BBC broadcasts and Tolkien's influence, as this from a 1944 entry: "May 29 (Mon) Tolkien reads the latest two chapters from The Lord of the Rings .... Lewis approves of them with unusual fervor, and is moved to tears by the second chapter." More than 100 sidebars of lists and trivia ("Some Meals in Narnia") offer delightful detours throughout this absorbing cradle-to-grave chronology. (Oct.)